Monday Thoughts: Time for the Stretch Run… Right Over the Heels

The Hokies wait to take the field six weeks ago, against West Virginia. (Photo by Ivan Morozov)

We all love college football, and if you love college football, you love this time of year — mid-October through November.

It’s been a fun 5-1 (1-1) season for the Hokies so far, with a high-profile win, a high-profile loss and a lasting return to the national rankings. But the next six weeks will tell the tale of the 2017 season. Is it a good 8-4 season with a solid bowl game at the end? Is it 9-3, with a Coastal championship just out of reach? Or is it something even better, another Coastal title, another ACC Championship Game appearance and maybe even an ACCCG win?

We’ll find out, but this is the best time of year. Anything is possible, and we can dream. I’m dreaming of a Coastal Division championship and not just another shot at Clemson, but a possible matchup with NC State in Charlotte. That would be awesome, to face my second-favorite ACC team in front of a packed stadium with an ACC title on the line. Win or lose, the outcome would break up the steady diet of FSU-Clemson that we’ve been fed since 2011, when the torch was passed from Virginia Tech to those two schools.

It was good to get a weekend off from the grind and just watch some college football that didn’t involve the Hokies. I also had a respite from pretty much everything else in my life that requires my attention, like lawn mowing, kids’ cross country meets and marching band competitions, car work and other work around the house.

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